Reclaiming Minneapolis
A Saturday in the office turns into saving a little bit of Minneapolis history and giving it a new life.
With Tim Mattimore & Chris Corum / / Original Artist: Zach Keenan
One Saturday afternoon, Tim, Chris, and I were working hard in the agency on some client deadlines. We could hear some demo happening below our office in Fifth Street Towers and looked outside to see cranes taking down the historic Hotel Minneapolis sign, now rebranded as Hotel Emery. They were loading these massive beauties on a flatbed, and we were sure they were off to some historic museum or something. Out of curiosity, and somewhat of a hail mary, we rushed to the street level and asked the driver what they were doing with the old signs. He told us they were off to the dump. THE DUMP!? Not on our watch. We asked if we could take one of his hands and he said sure, as long as we can carry it. Yes, it was heavy as hell.
We hoisted one of the sheets of metal off the flatbed, carried it into the alleyway behind our building, and began a 3 hour mission to dismantle the sign in pieces small enough to bring it back upstairs. The sign was taken apart piece by piece, given some tender care and maintenance, and now hangs in the lobby of BBDO MPLS office proudly. We even stumbled across J. Zachery Keenan, the artist behind the sign, and invited him into our space to check out his work’s new home. Zach was thrilled to see one of his first creations in the city receive a second chance to inspire.
